We are fortunate to live in an area rich with forests, hills, lakes, rivers and wild spaces.
If you want to take a walk in the woods, you’re never more than a few miles away from one, and that has more benefits than the obvious fitness boost.
“It just makes you feel good, it’s hard to describe what the benefit really is, but your mind’s more alive, you’re feeling better,” said David president of the Athol Bird and Nature Club.
A growing body of research delves into why time in the woods makes people feel good, and paints nature as a kind of mental health therapy.
“We know there’re all these benefits to movement, but there’re also lots of mental health benefits to being in proximity to green space, being unplugged and kind of the understanding that nature is bigger than you,” said Heather Bialecki-Canning, executive director of the North Quabbin Community Coalition in Athol.
The nonprofit agency has a broad mission to improve the quality of life in the region, and works to do so through task forces targeting the mental, physical and financial health of residents.
Bialecki-Canning said studies released since 2006 have tied time outdoors to reductions in overall stress, headaches, depression and anxiety.
That has spurred the Community Coalition’s task forces to look outdoors for answers.
“One of the best things we have out here is this beautiful natural resource in the region we live in … people need to relax and take a look around them and try to unplug,” she said.
But then plug in again: Bialecki-Canning said the most effective way to get people outside is through word of mouth: Did you try a great hiking trail or go fishing in a choice spot? Put it on social media and others are more likely to follow suit, spreading the benefits.
The coalition works this knowledge into its youth health efforts, with the understanding that getting children outside means their parents will pick up the habit, too.
It is also applying an outdoors focus to a cooperative program with Heywood Healthcare called the Enjoy Life Community, a program originally focused on suicide prevention that has broadened to include encouraging people to enjoy their community.
A 2015 study led by Stanford found that 90 minutes walking in a natural area decreased brain activity associated with depression. The same was not true for the comparison group, which took its walk along a busy road.
A review of literature on the topic of restorative environments by David G. Pearson and Tony Craig in Frontiers in Psychology cites five studies from 2009 to 2014 as evidence suggesting that exposure to natural environments can be associated with mental health benefits.
The 2014 paper also calls for more research, suggesting that urban environments can be similarly restorative. The authors cite a study finding that scenes containing water drew the same positive response whether in nature, or in urban environments.
The North Quabbin Community Coalition encourages people to get outside, maintaining an online community calendar that includes regular nature and outdoors events, plus a separate North Quabbin Woods website.
The site, northquabbinwoods.org, hosts information on places to bike, swim, paddle and hike in the area, while keeping up the local economics end with a list of businesses and artisans.
The Athol Bird and Nature Club has its own website, at atholbirdclub.org, which Small said is full of free activities focused on birds this time of year. “The month of May is one of the best times of the year for us,” he said. “The spring birds come back and butterflies emerge and dragonflies start. It’s kind of an exciting time to watch the spring unfold.”
There are ample opportunities in the area to watch the spring unfold, with expert guidance or on your own.
Chris Curtis can be reached at ccurtis@recorder.com